A bit short notice I know (I only booked it yesterday), but does anyone know of any museums or race tracks in California that are worth a visit?

I'm off to LA on Thursday for 4 weeks and have no plans so far (other than staying with my cousin whose father introduced my late father into motorsport) and am trying to get some ideas - I will be in Santa Monica but have no plans at all, the joys of no ties!!

I've been to Laguna Seca and the Las Vegas Speedway before but would like to use the opportunity to see some different stuff and any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Well, Santa Monica is a good place to start - you know that they raced around the streets for a decade or so, a hundred years ago? Including 2 GPs, 1914 & '16. I am told all the streets are still in use today...

There is the Peterson museum and the Riverside museum and also Justice Brothers museum then there is Willow Springs raceway out toward Palmdale.There is a great book store in Burbank called Aerobooks/Autobbooks then there is the Nethercutt museum http://www.nethercuttcollection.org/ then if you don't mind a bit of a drive or plane ride the Penske museum is in phoenix penskeracingmuseum.com. there is even one in San Diego.

That's great, thanks for the ideas so far, definitely a couple I will do.
Thanks Michael for the tip on Santa Monica, really interesting to know, as I've been to a few of those streets in the past and will look at them very differently this time.

Though the greater Los Angeles area museums mentioned, aside from the Petersen, are a distance away from Santa Monica, they are all worthwhile stops (Nethercutt, Justice Brothers, Riverside International, Parks/NHRA). The Parks NHRA Museum, while rightfully focusing on drag racing, does cover other forms of racing with some interesting cars, memorabilia and displays.

If they're were any way at all (use whatever motoring contacts you have) try to get a visit to Jay Leno's Garage. A must see. If you're in Orange County, there's a 1991 Group C Mercedez sitting in a dealership in Foothill Ranch. Parnelli Jones has a great museum that I think is open to the public.

Museums and tracks are nice, and your advisors have touched on most of them. From my point of view, SoCal wouldn't be so interesting if it weren't for the "twisties" available to enthusiastic enthusiasts. Denizens of the L.A. area will be able to guide you to roads other than Mulholland -- a must-do even if it's crowded, as you can expect for the Ortega Highway, a little farther afield. A good dose of six-tenths does wonders for the spirit, and has the lasting benefit of mental movies you can rerun at will.

I speak while still in the thrall of a forty-five minute episode in the San Diego County back country, late morning last Thursday. Luckily I was almost alone on the roads, the two or three drivers I overtook very kindly used turnouts and made/received friendly gestures as I resumed speed. Some of the curves seemed unfamiliar, as I'd never seen them unimpeded. To top it off, a goodly portion of the twistiest part has recently been repaved. Different strokes.

Willow Springs, abour 80 miles north of Santa Monica. Take the 405 north to the 5 north. Take the 5 to the 14. Say on the 14 for about 40 miles exit at Rosamond Blvd, turn left onto Rosamond Blvd and go straight for about 6 miles. Track is on the right. Usually something going on. Check out their web site.http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/

I've ended up being much busier than I thought but I visited the Petersen Museum (I will post the pics when I get back) and I have got tickets to go to filming of the tonight show tomorrow, so might get to meet Jay Leno. I tried contacting him through one of his fellow Octane writers and no luck but I did get tickets which apparently are hard to get, so fingers crossed.
I did have a good nose around the local Fisker dealer, beautiful car and I love the technology.
I was trying to explain to my cousin yesterday, in England you hear a V8 burble behind you and when you turn round 9 times out of 10 it's something interesting, whereas in the US, when you turn round for a V8 9 times out of 10 it's something boring!!
I did get to watch the last ever Speed channel show, that was pretty good and watched the 2012 FoS with my cousin and wife; they didn't believe I had competed/driven there, especially as not in the footage and then, finally, my 15 seconds of fame at the end when they interviewed Justin Law and Anthony Reid and I are peeing around in the background drinking Anthony's champagne - that showed 'em!!